BOWL-ing

Yes, bowling, but as in eating from a bowl. Caution! This is partially a rant. I promise good cooking guidance and a recipe, but I have had it with food trends, fads, foodie catchphrases and marketing gimmicks.

My Freekeh Fiber Bowl

Rant-worthy! I'm so--SO--over this plant-based concept. Good heavens! We eat meat, seafood, fruits, vegetables and some grains. (Of course, there is also processed food, but don't get me going on that.) Everything that isn't meat and seafood is plant-based! Even sugar is plant-based. Am I right? It probably began as a great title for a book, and then the mischievous marketing goblins grabbed it and ran with it. I cringe every time I hear or read plant-based. It can mean anything. It can even mean this dish started out with plants, then we added a bunch of processed stuff and chemicals. Don't get upset. Just read those labels. Do you know what the ingredients are? Do you recognize them?

And how about this trend of eating everything out of a bowl? A Buddha Bowl. A beautifully composed bowl of individually cooked ingredients, yes--a great idea for a restaurant, for sure. In fact, the Buddha Bowl was developed at a Canadian restaurant about ten years ago. Beautiful, efficient and easy to portion out per order. And, it doesn't have to be hot. Brilliant idea. But, it's been so heavily promoted to a certain demographic of home cooks as healthy eating, that it makes you wonder if the food that's served out of a pot or a serving dish is just not good enough these days. 

And then the idea of using sea salt. It's ALL sea salt. It's the processing of the salt that matters, which is why we've been using Celtic Grey sea salt for over 15 years. Look it up.

Pre-cooked freekeh

Okay, now with the recipe. Oh, wait, it's a bowl! Yes, I'm not opposed to the idea of a bowl--only the marketing, the false advertising and overused presentation.

What's in my bowl? Truly healthy things: freekeh, avocado, lentil salad, pumpkin seeds, cooked sweet potatoes, red onion, extra-virgin olive oil, walnuts and whatever else you wish. The idea is to pre-cook everything to save cooking time during the week and to keep you from eating out so much.

The Lentil Salad

1 lb French Lentils (small green lentils) soaked for a couple of hours or overnight & drained

1 cup chopped red onion

2 large garlic cloves, pressed or finely chopped

1/2 cup chopped Italian parsley

The Dressing

4 tablespoons red wine vinegar

12 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Cook the lentils in plenty of water and 1-2 teaspoons of salt. When tender, drain. Mix with dressing, onion, garlic and parsley. Taste. Add salt, if needed.

Everything Else

1 cup diced carrots, cooked (about 1 large carrot)

1 cup diced sweet potatoes, cooked

1 to 2 cups cooked freekeh (farro or brown rice make a good substitute but they are high on the glycemic scale)

microgreens

sliced radicchio

shaved fennel

artichoke hearts

diced avocado

To increase the fiber and nutrition content in your bowl, add one or all of the following--roughly chopped walnuts, pistachios and whole pumpkin seeds.

Pat yourself on the back. Bravo! You've evolved in your health journey. You're worth the extra effort!